Tom Horne, the state Attorney General, inherited the SCA case from his predecessor, Terry Goddard.

The case is all about the dirty politics played by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the state Republican Party. Briefly, it involves a secret slush fund of money solicited from fat-cats around the country to help Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The money was illegally donated to the state Republican Party, which used it to create the "sheriff's-opponent-masturbates-and-screwed-his-own-mother" ad (see the YouTube video) that ran for a night on local TV until viewers demanded it be taken down.

In a statement released today to coincide with the release of the SCA investigative report, (which Horne only coughed up after we sent a strongly worded demand letter), Horne says he's deferring it all to the feds.

Horne's office states in the release:

"When Attorney General, Tom Horne, assumed office on January 3, 2011, the Attorney General's Office had several pending investigations which were initiated by the previous administration. Some of those investigations involved present and/or past members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Maricopa County Attorney's Office and others. Members of the Attorney General's Office have consulted with members of the United States Attorney's Office and it has been determined that the United States Attorney's Office has investigated, or is investigating , the same matters as part of an on-going federal investigation.

The United States Attorney's Office has previously received authorization from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to investigate and prosecute any potential state criminal charges which may arise in connection with the current federal investigation. Accordingly, the Attorney General has elected to defer to the federal authorities regarding said investigation and potential prosecutions arising from it."

"Elected" obviously means they could be doing something about it, but aren't.

Way to keep Arpaio happy.

Ray has worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won many awards awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.